1. The Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to training employees. More specifically, this application relates to methods and apparatuses for training a retail staff member about a manufacturer and its products and retailers training their retail staffs to sell more efficiently.
2. The Relevant Technology
Educating retail staff members about a manufacturer and its products has become of increased importance in markets where the customer's purchasing decision is made at the point of sale. Recent studies suggest that up to 80% of purchasing decisions are made at the point of sale. Thus in these instances, a retail staff member who is on the sales floor will often have the greatest effect on the customer's purchasing decision.
Manufacturer's current advertising expenditures often do not take into account the effect that retail staff members have on the purchasing decisions of consumers. Many manufacturers tend to spend large amounts of money on general brand advertising, which is directed towards the consumer long before the sale. Such advertising may include radio and television commercials as well as advertising in print media. Such advertising by manufacturers does not fully recognize that in many markets a consumer would typically make the decision of what he or she will buy at the point of sale. This is particularly true for products such as sporting goods, for which customers typically rely on the recommendations of experienced (or seemingly experienced) retail staff member comments. For these types of products in particular, widespread marketing and advertising campaigns may have little direct effect on actual sales.
Further, there is often no advantage to the retailer for the retail staff member to favor one product over the other. As a result, the retailer has little motivation to train the retail staff member in depth as to any particular product unless one manufacturer provides a far greater profit margin than the others. In fact, retailers often desire to limit training as they must often pay their employees to attend. Rather, the retailer's needs are met when a retail staff member has enough general knowledge to make the customer believe that they have been helped.
Additionally, when manufacturers have trained retail staff members, it is often difficult for one manufacturer to determine if its training expenses have been well spent in industries where there is a high turnover rate of retail staff members. A substantial amount of money may be spent on training retail staff members who no longer sell the manufacturer's products after a very short amount of time with a particular retailer. Thus, it has been extremely difficult for manufacturers to determine if their training is having any benefits which justify the cost of frequent trips to retail locations to train the retail staff members.
If the retail staff member believes that a particular brand or product is superior, is of better quality, or is a better value, the retail staff member is far more likely to recommend that brand or product above its competitors. Retail staff members might mention that a particular manufacturer's product is liked and used by them, mention the product as an alternative, not mention the product, or mention the product in a negative way. However, many retailers and manufacturers fail to appreciate how vital these retail staff members can be to their own success. Thus, current advertising and training has not fully appreciated that it is in the manufacturer's (or wholesaler's) interest to have the retail staff member emotionally tied to the manufacturer's products.
Manufacturers have attempted to build loyalty in retail staff members by offering product discounts. Typically, discounts are extended to all employees of a retailer. As a result, a manufacturer may be offering discounts on one type of product (e.g. skies) to a retail staff member who sells products in a different area of the business (e.g. rock climbing). Furthermore, the discounts are usually not linked to sales volume, experience, or as an incentive for training of a retail staff member. As such, the discounts provide limited, if any, real incentive for a retail staff member to learn about the manufacturer. In addition, the discounts are not tailored to particular employees for greatest cost effectiveness to the manufacturer.
Thus, what would be advantageous is a more efficient and effective method of training retail staff members about a manufacturer and its product, which has a greater advertising impact on customers at the point of sale, can better influence the consumer's purchasing decision, and better encourage a retail staff member to learn about and become an advocate for the manufacturer and its products.